How Macklin Celebrini helped this Pittsburgh Penguins rookie make the NHL

SAN JOSE – Pittsburgh Penguins rookie Ben Kindel had a possibility this summer season to skate and follow with, amongst others, fellow facilities Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks and Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks.

That work on the ice, and his conversations with them off of it, boosted Kindel’s confidence, and maybe performed a small function in serving to him crack the Penguins’ roster to start out the common season.

Kindel took that have into the Penguins’ coaching camp, and he had a purpose and two assists in six preseason video games.

Saturday, Kindel, who was drafted eleventh general in June, will play in his fifth NHL recreation because the Penguins face the still-winless Sharks at SAP Middle to shut their California swing. Kindel, 18, scored his first NHL purpose on Oct. 11 in opposition to the New York Rangers and has up to now averaged 14:20 in ice time per recreation.

Bedard, now 20, gained the Calder Trophy because the NHL’s finest rookie after the 2023-24 season when he had 61 factors in 68 video games. Celebrini was third in Calder voting final season when he led the Sharks with 63 factors in 70 video games.

Not each 18-year-old who comes into the NHL can put up these sorts of numbers, and there’s no assure Kindel shall be with the Penguins all season. However seeing gamers round his age from the Metro Vancouver space make their mark within the league so shortly was a supply of inspiration for Kindel.

“Just hearing them talk. I mean, they’re both young players who’ve gone through it recently,” mentioned Kindel, a local of Coquitlam, British Columbia. “So I believe I simply took lots of what they had been doing, what they had been saying, into my coaching camp.

“There’s been a lot of elite players that have made it at 18 from Vancouver, so it gives me a lot of examples and a lot of confidence that guys that have done it before, even a guy like Zach Benson, who was a later pick, I trained with him,” Kindel mentioned of the Buffalo Sabres ahead, who’s from Chilliwack, B.C. “But obviously, Mack and Connor did it on a very high level in their first year. So it helped build confidence for sure.”

Kindel remembers enjoying in opposition to Celebrini, 19, in minor hockey within the Vancouver space as a younger child, however didn’t actually get to know him till this summer season.

“He was always a very high-end player, a very hard worker,” Kindel mentioned of Celebrini. “You kind of knew he was a special player right from when he was at a young age.”

PLANS FOR THE KIDS

Just like the Sharks, the Penguins have a number of youngsters on the roster with Kindel and 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke. Each gamers, Penguins coach Dan Muse mentioned, have earned the appropriate to stick with the massive membership, at the least for now.

The Sharks have their very own plan for middle Michael Misa, 18, and defenseman Sam Dickinson, 19, who may very well be teammates with Kindel on Canada’s roster on the IIHF World Junior championships in Minnesota in December.

What’s the Penguins’ plan for Kindel and Brunicke?

“I think it goes back to the preseason,” Muse mentioned. “We did put so much on their plate, and so they continued to point out that they may deal with it. … They’ve earned alternatives to be in some conditions that we wished to see how they’d deal with. They’ve dealt with them properly.

“In terms of the plan, we are factoring in things specific to their age and to their needs, so that they’re able to have success now, but also setting them up for success in the future. And so there have been a lot of internal conversations as an organization about what’s going to be best for them.”

Initially Revealed: October 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM PDT